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Benchmarking; Performance Measurements 2014

About this survey

Benchmark data is important to your business. It enables you to assess current performance and to make a business case for investment or improvement. Increasingly, executives expect every function to have ready access to reliable external benchmarks. By completing this survey, you will ensure that you have the data you need.
 
This survey is one of three that explore different areas of contract and commercial management organization and performance. The survey you are about to complete focuses on measurements. It looks at headcount, contract complexity, the measurements used to gauge both individual and functional performance and a range of efficiency indicators (e.g. cycle times, number of contracts per professional etc.)
1.What geographic region are you based in?
2.Which industry do you belong to?
3.Do you represent:
4.Your function:
5.Please express your company's annual revenue in US$:
6.What is your job role?
7.If you are answering this from a procurement perspective, what is the value of your sourcing spend in US$:
In this section we explore organization and resources.
8.Is the contract/commercial role within your company primarily undertaken by dedicated contract/commercial staff?
9.If there is a dedicated contract/commercial staff, what is the approximate headcount?
10.If you don't have a contract/commercial staff or you indicated that it varies by country or division, please indicate where the role is performed:
11.Contracting is a complex activity, involving stakeholders from a variety of functions. Based on your knowledge/judgment, approximately what headcount equivalent is being absorbed by contract-related activities? (For example, obtaining reviews / approvals, assembling contract documents, overseeing contract performance.) Please answer this question whether or not you have a dedicated contracts / commercial group. Leave blank if you have no idea.
We now move to a series of quantitative and qualitative indicators of performance which will assist in benchmarking relative efficiency and effectiveness of contract / commercial operations. We appreciate that you may not have precise data and that you may have to make 'best estimates' of the answers.
12.For medium and high complexity contracts, what is the typical contract term (i.e. the number of years duration)?
Term
Medium
High
13.Has the average term (duration) of your contracts changed significantly over the last 2 years?
14.Please indicate in which of the following areas you undertake market research, or would like to undertake research related to commercial / contract operations.
Yes, regularly
Yes, occasionally
No
Would like to
competitive terms and conditions
supporting new market entry
trends in commercial offerings
pricing / charging models
'best practices’ in offering design or contract structure
organizational benchmarking
performance benchmarking - for example 'ease of doing business'
15.Please indicate any of the following areas where you undertake regular measurements of performance related to contracting or negotiation: these measures could be related to the relevant organization or to the overall process.
16.Please indicate what volume of contracts / negotiations you feel it is reasonable for one professional to be handling at any one time. For this purpose, please consider professionals who are reasonably experienced (5 years plus):
1
2-5
6-10
11-15
15 or more
For contracts covering standard products or services, but where some negotiation occurs:
Contracts covering standard products or services, where the professional's role is to manage post-signature contract management:
Contracts covering standard products and services, where the contract is based on a document provided by the other side:
For multi-product / services / solutions contracts (bid and negotiation phase):
For multi-product / services/ solutions contracts (post-signature phase):
For high-complexity, high-value projects - bid and negotiation phase
For high-complexity, high-value projects - post-signature phase
17.What are your primary sources of training? Please rate the following in order of their relative contribution to your typical training and skills development approach.
Not significantly used
Sometimes used
Regularly used
Always used (primary method)
on-the-job learning from colleagues and work experience
mentoring (from management or peers within the company)
internal web-based or e-learning
external web-based or e-learning
internal (physical) classes
external (physical) classes
other
18.Apart from formal training, please identify the primary sources of professional information and subject area knowledge that you believe to be used by contract / commercial staff to support their work:
Infrequent
Occasional
Frequent
Internal colleagues
Formal feedback and recording database (lessons learned)
Internet search
Law firms
Profesional associations
Informal on-line networks (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn)
Informal personal networks (e.g. personal contacts)
Surveys, focus groups etc.
Competitive research
Newapapers, magazines, books
New employee interviews
19.Please check any of the following where your organization undertakes regular performance measurement for purposes of reporting or to assist on-going improvement:
20.THIS QUESTION APPLIES ONLY TO THOSE WHO ARE ANSWERING FROM THE BUY-SIDE; all others, please skip to Question 21. Which of the following statements apply within your organization in respect of supplier relationship management?
True
Not true
Partly true
We have defined Sourcing Groups and know the global spend for each group (spend analysis).
We have categorized our spend (for example, Leverage, Strategic, Bottleneck, Standard)
We have identified our strategic suppliers and wecollaborate with them to improve mutual performance.
We have identified our bottleneck suppliers and have a contingency plan in case of failure.
We have identified the percentage of our total spend for which we have a clear strategy defined and in place.
We have analyzed our total acquisition costs (TAC) compared to total revenues.
We know the percent of customer contract terms (contract value based) that are being met through supplier performance(feedback from sales/ops).
The following questions seek numeric data regarding the types of contracts and relationships handled within your business. We appreciate that many organizations lack precise data, but please endeavor to answer these questions since without them, meaningful benchmarks are almost impossible. An understanding of comparative volumes and complexity is fundamental to a comparison of efficiency or effectiveness.
21.Approximately how many contracts are currently live and under management in your company? (The data should reflect transactions or relationships that are currently active)
22.Does your group/function have direct involvement with the formation and management of the following types of contracts? (By 'direct' we mean having regular involvement at a transactional level)
Low complexity (transactions or relationships that use standard forms of contract and require little or no negotiation and limited oversight of performance)
Medium complexity (transactions or relationships that require significant review and / or negotiation and continued oversight of performance)
High complexity (transactions or relationships representing substantial business risk, requiring highly skilled commercial negotiators and dedicated oversight of performance)
23.Approximately what percentage of your function's resources are used to support each type of contract? (please put a number in each of the boxes. The sum of numbers should be 100)
24.Please indicate the approximate percentage of each contract type within your company or organization (please put a number in each of the boxes. The sum of numbers should be 100).
25.Please indicate the approximate percentage of your company's or organization's total revenue (if you are on the sell-side) or expenditure (if you are on the buy-side) that is covered by each contract type: (Please make sure that the choices add up 100)
Buy side
Sell side
Low complexity (transactions or relationships that use standard forms of contract and require little or no negotiation and limited oversight of performance)
Medium complexity (transactions or relationships that require significant review and / or negotiation and continued oversight of performance)
High complexity (transactions or relationships representing substantial business risk, requiring highly skilled commercial negotiators and dedicated oversight of performance)
26.What is the average cycle time from the initiation of the bid to contract signature for each contract type:
Domestic contracts
International contracts
Low complexity (transactions or relationships that use standard forms of contract and require little or no negotiation and limited oversight of performance)
Medium complexity (transactions or relationships that require significant review and / or negotiation and continued oversight of performance)
High complexity (transactions or relationships representing substantial business risk, requiring highly skilled commercial negotiators and dedicated oversight of performance)
27.Where did you hear about this survey?
28.Approximately what percentage of your contracts are transacted using your company's standard terms and conditions?
Percentage
Without amendments
With amendments
29.If you would like to receive a copy of the results of this survey, please enter your e-mail address here (you will not be quoted and your input will not be shared with any third party)